Success Set for another Relaunch

In a move the company says it hopes will return the more than 100-year-old magazine to its early publishing roots, Dallas-based VideoPlus has announced plans to relaunch Success magazine. The marketing and communications company acquired the magazine's title, trademarks and logos, and shuttered the magazine three months ago.

VideoPlus executives say Success' latest incarnation will tap an $11 billion personal-development industry. "Thanks to champions like Oprah Winfrey and others, the personal-development industry has experienced massive growth during the last several years," VideoPlus president and CEO Stuart Johnson said in a statement. "Today, there are entire aisles in book stores devoted to self-motivational titles, but there is no magazine exclusively devoted to the topic." VideoPlus publishes titles that include Success from Home, Empowering Women and Your Business at Home.

To lead the relaunch, VideoPlus has hired personal-development veteran Darren Hardy as publisher and editorial director. "Success drifted off its core-value proposition the last decade or so," said Hardy, who joins the magazine after holding two executive positions at personal-development-focused television networks. "We intend to make Success the foremost trusted resource for new ideas, resources, and inspiration for today's striving entrepreneurs and small business owners."

Late last July, the former Success investors paid a surprise visit to the
New York office, informing the employees that the magazine would be shut down. "We had a total of 16 full-time employees and four part-timers. All were let go except for yours truly," former Success publisher Joseph Guerriero, who was retained by those investors to grow their motivational business seminars, said in an August interview with Folio: Alert. Last October, Success employees were notified that VideoPlus had filed a lawsuit in federal court against the owners of the magazine, claiming trademark infringement, Guerriero said.

Launched in 1891 as a personal development magazine, Success folded in 1924 following the death of its founding editor Orison Swett Marden. After being relaunched decades later-and having a number of owners over the years-the magazine folded for the second time in 2001.

With a $5.95 cover price and interim rate base of 100,000, the new bi-monthly Success is slated to hit newsstands March 4, 2008.

Post Comment / Discuss This Story - Info/Rules